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Beef Curry Tagliatelle

Beef Curry Tagliatelle

Just got back from Italy where I ate a lot of good noodles. One of the best dishes I had was tagliatelle with sea urchin, dressed simply with butter, garlic, black pepper & parsley. It was darn good. There was also a bunch of other stuff but this was tops. So, tagliatelle: slightly wide noodle that goes well with meat sauces. I hit up local Italian specialty shop Severino for some of their dried pasta; their product is some of the best if you opt not to make it yourself.

The other life thing happening now that contributed to this was taking part in a cow share. (Vinny is in on it too.) A cow share is, perhaps a bit obviously, where a bunch of people divvy up a whole cow. I received a bunch of cool meat, the bulk of which was ground beef.

Again on the subject of Italy. After returning home from the trip, I immediately hit up Italian Market for cheeses and butters. Among the spoils of this shopping excursion was baked ricotta, with a texture similar to paneer cheese. With that thought, the inspiration for beef curry tagliatelle, which is pretty much Indian saag paneer recast as a bolognese sauce for pasta.

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Posted by on June 8, 2012 in boil, dinner, fry, quick, recipes, sautee

 

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Hoi Thawt

Hoi Thawt

This dish started with a short description on a food blog. It sounded like an intriguing combination so I googled that shit. All that came up was one or two old photos on flickr from the same restaurant covered in the blog. The go-to reference cookbooks were also lacking in further information on this dish. However, from the photos and description, it looked to be a combination of techniques I was already familiar with so I decided to wing it.

You will observe from the gallery below that I worked up two versions. The first attempt was pretty good but there was definitely room for improvement. I think I got it down on the second try. Done correctly, the dish is a great combination of textures: the fleshiness of the mussels, the crisp crunch of fresh bean sprouts & scallions, the fried crunch of the crepes & shallots, the custardy texture of the eggs and the unfried sides of the crepes. There is also a good balance of flavors, from brine to citrus to fermented funk, with a heavy emphasis on umami. I think this one goes in the repertoire.

PRO TIP: Cook up the leftover crepes & dip them in the mussels’ simmering liquid.

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Posted by on May 18, 2012 in boil, condiment, dinner, recipes

 

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Niji Soba

Niji Soba

This dish is another one of those pantry-clearing efforts. When warm weather arrives, I get all about soba in the kitchen; it makes for a satisfying meal and, like other noodles, it is endlessly versatile because you can toss it with whatever. I started with the beautiful purple shiso leaves and decided to build it around a colorful presentation, deriving the majority of the flavor/umami from a butter-white miso sauce.

One of the ingredients listed below is yasai fumi furikake. Furikake refers to various rice seasonings which can be found in the Japanese section of most Asian supermarkets and some domestic supermarkets. (You may recall shiso furikake popping up in other recipes.) The yasai–Japanese for “vegetable”–version includes sesame seeds, seaweed, salt, sugar and dried carrots, spinach, pumpkin, celery & mustard greens. Furikake is a great way to boost flavor and it is nice to keep handy.

N.B. The photos also include crab meat as an ingredient in the recipe. After making the dish, I decided it was a superfluous element and decided not to include it here, with the added bonus that the recipe is now vegetarian-friendly. I think the main issue was that it was just cheap-ish claw meat and sort of got lost in the sauce, literally and figuratively. I would not be opposed to some jumbo lump crab meat on top next time, however.

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Posted by on May 4, 2012 in lunch, quick, recipes, sautee

 

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Ruckus Sammich

Ruckus Sammich

I had more noodles lines up for all y’all but seeing as how today is 4/20, here’s the druggiest recipe I had in the archives. I’m calling it a “Ruckus Sammich” because much like the Wu-Tang Clan, it is chock full ofdistinct flavors all jockeying for prominence while at the same time coming together in a harmonious whole. This sandwich ain’t nuthin’ to fuck wit.

(N.B. It is unlikely you have all the ingredients listed in the recipe at hand. Substitutions are noted, but each will impact the overall flavor, which is carefully balanced lest it become an incoherent pile of slop. No substitutions have been listed for certain ingredients e.g. the peanut butter powder and Chinese raisin bread because the alternatives–peanut butter and domestic raisin bread, respectively–have much stronger flavors than those called for in the recipe. Basically, not sure how useful this recipe will be to anyone but here it is anyway.)

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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in lunch, quick, recipes, sautee, toast

 

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Brussels Calcutta

Brussels Calcutta

Not much to say about this. It is Brussels sprouts with Indian-Chinese-ish flavors. It tastes okay.

To make the XO sauce, I followed the Momofuku recipe (with some adjustments); feel free to use store-bought. The tomato chutney is derived from Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking, but feel free to outsource production of that as well. Both are simple enough to make at home, though, and I would encourage you to make the attempt.

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Posted by on February 17, 2012 in quick, recipes, sear, side dish

 

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